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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1999; v. 161; p. 173-187;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.161.01.12
© 1999 Geological Society of London

Late Quaternary eruptions in Iceland

Environmental and social responses in Europe to the 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure volcano in Iceland: a consideration of contemporary documentary evidence

Mark Brayshay1 & John Grattan2

1 The University of Plymouth, Department of Geographical Sciences, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK
2 The University of Wales, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Llandinam Building, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DB, UK

A detailed examination of contemporary documentary evidence, including letters, diaries, historical accounts and newspaper reports, reveals the dramatic effect on the weather across the whole of western Europe of the eruption of the Laki volcanic fissure in Iceland in 1783. Extreme heat, dry sulphurous fogs, chemical pollution, and tremendous storms of thunder, lightning and hail were reported from northern Scotland to Sicily. Vegetation was defoliated, crops were destroyed, livestock were killed and property was damaged. There were also direct and indirect human casualties. The unusual conditions engendered considerable fear as well as an appeal to science for a rational explanation. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in southern Italy and Iceland were blamed as the cause.





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J. Grattan, M. Durand, and S. Taylor
Illness and elevated human mortality in Europe coincident with the Laki Fissure eruption
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2003; 213: 401 - 414.
[Abstract] [PDF]